PIJAUS XI KONSTITUCIJA LITUANORUM GENTE IR JOS PADARINIAI LIETUVAI
Pius XI's Constitution "Lituanorum gente" and its Impact on Lithuania

Summary/Abstract: During the years of czarist occupation, and even after the declaration of Lithuania's independence on 18 February 1918, till the establishment of the Church province on 6 April 1926, the centres of Lithuania's dioceses were outside Lithuania. The dioceses of Samogitia belonged to the archbishopric of Mogilev, with its capital in St Petersburg. The Seinai diocese, with the centre in Seinai, belonged to the Warsaw archbishopric. Seinai and a part of its diocese were occupied by the Polish. Only four deaneries remained inside Lithuania. A part of the Samogitian diocese was in Latvia. After the territory of Klaipėda had been annexed by Lithuania in 1923, four parishes in the region still remained in the diocese of Worms in Germany. Therefore, Lithuania's administrative structure was not settled even after regaining independence. The problems started to be solved when the Christian Democrats were in power and the Lithuanian archbishop Jurgis Matulaitis (Pope John Paul II beatified him on 28 June 1987) was designated as the apostolic inspector for the Holy See.

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